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Retooled Greenies building on past success

Christ School's tennis team was 7-0 as of Friday.(Photo: Maddy Jones/mjones@citizen-times.com)

ARDEN – If last year’s roster was any indication the Christ School tennis team shouldn’t have the record they currently have this season.

Gone are five of the top six players from the 2016 team that went 14-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCISAA 3-A playoffs.

Still, they’ve opened the season with seven straight wins and that’s what at least one person, coach Drew Hyche, thought could happen.

“I think it’s right on par (with my thoughts),” he said. “They have a will about them and a determination to build on what they did last year. I think that comes from the juniors that were on the JV last year and saw how successful the varsity was last year.”

Junior Stephen Saye moved from the No. 3 spot last year up to the No. 1 position. He’s the only player on the squad that was a constant in last season’s rotation.

Fellow juniors Brian Li (No. 2), Will Rasco (No. 3) and Walker Vasey (No. 6) are joined in the top of the order by senior Ethan Colburn (No. 4) and freshman William Saye (No. 5).

“We’re a lot younger this year with only one senior opposed to five,” Stephen Saye said. “I’d say we’ve done a lot more tennis this year. A core group did a lot of tennis in the fall. We’ve worked really hard. We didn’t have the talent coming in but I think we’re better than last year’s team.”

Last year’s team had five seniors (four were in the top six players) and a German exchange student.

Hyche didn’t coach last year’s team. The school’s Dean of Students, who served as the tennis head coach from 2000-2005, was expected to be the assistant to Laneal Vaughn this year. Vaughn stepped down prior to the season.

Hyche said he knows that a lot of this year’s success should belong to Vaughn’s teachings and leadership in the past.

“I thought they had a lot of promise,” Hyche said. “A very talented team, especially on the top of the lineup with a lot of promise and dedication. I thought that we’d be successful just because of the work they put in during the offseason.”

The toughest test of the year came earlier this week against Asheville High School. The Greenies trailed 4-0 before rain stalled the match. Hyche said he didn’t believe the match would be completed due to conflicting schedules.

Only one match had been close this season, that was a 5-4 win when the team played without Li, who was out sick.

Other matches have been blowouts, including two 9-0 victories and an 8-1 win.

The quick start has led to a change in what the Greenies think they can do this season.

“I think our expectation is to make a deep run in the state playoffs and see how we do from there,” said Saye.

What were the expectations before the season?

“It’s much different (now),” the No. 1 player said. “We were just trying to make the tournament and see how we would do.”